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NTN Cultural Practices

Tech Valley High School • 2024-2025

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Opening Moves

Welcome, introductions, purpose of our learning, agenda overview & connecting

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Welcome!

As you come in…

Sit in grade level teams if you can

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Kevin Gant

Director of Growth and District Success

19 Years in the Classroom

Taught mostly physics

At NTN 13 years

Resides in Albuquerque, NM

Started a NTN school in NM - son graduated from it

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Where we’ve been, where we are, where we are going…

Project-Based Learning

=

NTN Whole School Model

Learner-Centered Culture

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NTN Instructional Practices + NTN Culture Practices

Student-Centered Instruction + NTN Learning Outcomes

=

New Tech Network Instructional Practices

(Maybe) Traditional Instruction

New Tech Network Learning Outcomes

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KNOWLEDGE AND THINKING is the ability to reason, problem-solve, develop sound arguments or decisions, and create new ideas by using appropriate sources and applying the knowledge and skills of a discipline.

COLLABORATION involves a group and individual’s ability to contribute to group tasks.

AGENCY is a combination of academic mindsets and the ability to take ownership over one’s learning.

ORAL COMMUNICATION involves the ability to communicate knowledge and thinking orally.

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION is the ability to effectively communicate knowledge and thinking through writing by organizing and structuring ideas and using discipline appropriate language and conventions.

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Purpose of our time together….

The workshop was designed to focus on culture in your own classrooms. It is likely that we will end up chatting about whole-school culture too.

We will work together to learn about culture, work to define what it is, diagnose your own culture, and consider moves we can make towards creating a safe, inclusive and emotionally supportive culture in your classrooms.

We will leave today with a lesson plan to improve the culture in our own classrooms.

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TVHS Set Up for Meetings

Usually → 2 sessions, each of 3 hours

TVHS → 4 sessions, each of 1+ hour, hopefully.

OUR PATH:

Session 1 - Good/Bad Culture

Session 2 - Empathy Map

Session 3 - Addressing Culture Questions

Session 4 - Lesson Plans

DEFINE

UNDERSTAND/DIAGNOSE

ADDRESS

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The Upstairs and Downstairs of the Brain

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Make Your Own Brain Model

Video of Dr. Siegel

Image source: Dan Siegel

Fun fact: we can actually teach our students about their brains through this hand model, developed by Dr. Dan Siegel. I used this model combined with Conscious Discipline to teach my kids about their brains and the idea that sometimes we all can “flip our lids.” The brain stem is the wrist portion of our brain and our emotional state is the bottom half of the palm. Our thumb represents the amygdala, our fight/flight response. When we are in control of amyg, we can access our prefrontal cortex, which Dr. Segal calls the “wise leader” of the brain. The prefrontal cortex is where we make our wise decisions. If our amygdala, or fight or flight response, gets triggered, then we “flip our lids.” Let’s all try making this! Put up your hand….

I would teach my kids about the brain using this model and invoke storytelling to tell about a time when I flipped my lid. Since my kids were first grade, I used a story about my puppy to tell about a time when I flipped my lid…. And how I had to breathe to get my composure back and think rationally….I am sure we all have good examples of times we have flipped our lids!

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Agenda Overview

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Community Agreements

Be kind and brave
Stay engaged
Listen for understanding
Speak your truth
Keep students at the center
Expect and accept non-closure

Definition from National Equity Project: Agreements are an aspiration, or collective vision, for how we want to be in relationship with one another

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Resources for Today

Website: https://bit.ly/TVHSCulture

Home of Site: bit.ly/3l1ZeWD

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Connecting: Story Telling

Prompt: (5 minutes to write/think)

Think about a classroom you had as a student (elementary, ms, hs, college, etc.) that felt safe, inclusive, and emotionally supportive.

Tell us about that classroom, that teacher.

What did you hear, see, feel?

Share: (10 minutes)

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How do you fix a diflactimometer?

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What is Culture?

You are about to get a prompt. Please THINK about it before saying anything to someone

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Imagine walking into two different classrooms that you have heard about. One has a reputation for having a “toxic” culture. The other has a reputation for having a “healthy” culture. How do they differ?

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What is Culture? Process

Think

Imagine walking into two different classrooms that you have heard about. One has a reputation for having a “healthy” culture. The other has a reputation for having a “toxic” culture. How do they differ?

Pair

Talk with someone next to you or as a table. As you do, record in the Toxic Vs Healthy Document on the website.

Share

Take some time to read others’ responses, and be ready to share connections you saw across the groups

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What is Culture?

Now that you’ve had some time to think about good and not-so-good culture, take some time now to create a definition of the word “culture”.

Add Your definition to the current document.
Use the same table under “What is Culture? (First Draft)”

We will revisit and adjust our definition later

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Examining Your Culture

Empathy Mapping

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Examining Your Culture, part 1

What?

A discussion centered around observations about a user (student) and what can be inferred about the user’s (student’s) needs from those observations.

Why?

Meaningful design and instruction are grounded in a deep understanding of the user (student). An Empathy Map Canvas is one tool to help synthesize observations and draw out unexpected insights.

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Examining Your Culture

Choose a marginalized student.

Why is this student coming up for you?

How are you thinking about/defining, “marginalized”?

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Indicate Who You Will Analyze

Click on Resource 3: Empathy Map List/Sign Up

Choose any Group #

Take your conversation about marginalized, apply it to a student, and fill out the row you chose for that student.

When you are done, signal as much to the facilitator

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Feel safe and included enough to learn in your classroom/school

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Examining Your Culture

Debrief

What did consideration of the individual student tell you about your classroom? Your school?

How might your knowledge of this student guide further discussions into culture?

From Empathy Map 2; Is there any (of the 4 areas) that you feel might need the most immediate attention? Which and why?

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Break!

www.newtechnetwork.org

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The 4 Elements of Culture

Text Discussion Protocol, Defining Culture, Narrowing our Focus

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The 4 Elements of Culture

Read “The 4 Elements of Culture” (7 minutes)

Consider the following as you read:

What is a connection you are making?
What is an implication for your classroom or your school?
What is a question you have?

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The 4 Elements of Culture

Discuss (groups of 3ish)

Each person gets 2 minutes to share their thoughts around one of the following:

What is a connection you are making?
What is an implication for your classroom or your school?
What is a question you have?

Everyone else is silent while others are sharing�
Once everyone has shared, there will be 3 minutes for group discussion.

2 - 2 - 2 - 3

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Our Operational Definition of Culture

“Culture is the way we do things around here.”

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Revisit - What is Culture?

Check out “What is Culture?” document

Use the same table under “What is Culture? (Final Draft)” - and if you like, write a definition of your own. Otherwise, just consider how NTN’s operational definition fits in with your initial definition.

Plan to share thoughts in about 3-5 min.

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Lunch!

www.newtechnetwork.org

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Post Lunch Energizer: Community Circles

Take out your phone! (5-10 minutes)

Share a photo with the people at your table and tell the story about its significance.

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Where we’ve been, where we’re going….

Morning:

Exploring and defining culture
Empathy Mapping
“The 4 Elements of Culture”
Choosing 1-2 elements to focus on moving forward

Afternoon:

Questions aligned with “The 4 Elements of Culture”
NTN Culture Practices Cards
Planning a PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act)

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Considering Questions

Questions to help us think more about how the elements of culture we have chosen to focus on show up in our classrooms.

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Questions to Consider - Individual

Read (6 minutes)

Take about 6 minutes to read through “Culture Questions to Consider”
As you read, select 1-2 questions that stand out to you.

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Questions to Consider - Group

Discuss (10 minutes)

Each person shares a question or two with the group, and why it stands out to them
The rest of the group can discuss ramifications or impressions of the question just shared. In general - make meaning of the question and your experience.
Next person shares his/her question, and group discusses.

Be ready to share out

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Putting our Learning into Practice

NTN Culture Practices Cards, PDSA, Planning Time

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Putting our Learning into Practice

Learning:

Considered Culture; What does it look like sound like feel like to have a classroom where the culture is safe, inclusive and emotionally supportive
Worked to define culture
Empathy Mapped
The 4 Elements of Culture
Considered Questions to push our thinking

Practice:

Explore a new tool to support a safe, inclusive and emotionally supportive culture in classrooms.
Aligning this tool with our elements of focus,
Create a plan to use the tool.

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NTN Culture Practices Cards

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NTN Culture Practices Cards

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Aligning the Cards to Elements of Culture

Take a look at “Aligning the 4 Elements of Culture to the NTN Culture Practices Cards”
Explore the NTN Culture Practices Cards that align with your elements of focus.
Choose a few cards you’d like to try in the near future
Template to organize your plan.

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Praise Question Suggestion

Protocol Timing (11 mins)

Presenter(s) shares (3 min)
Questions (2 min)
Praise (2 min)
Suggestion (2 min)
Presenter Debrief/Reflection (2 min)

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Closing

I used to think…. Now I think…

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Closing

I used to think….

Now I think…

Example:

“I used to think culture in the classroom was directly related to rules and procedures. Now I think culture has more to do with the identity of my students and the relationships I cultivate with them.”

Complete your “I used to think… Now I think…” here.

Remember to keep culture in mind!

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Break!

www.newtechnetwork.org

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Plan, Do, Study, Act

Plan

Do

Study

Act

Set improvement goals
Predict what will happen
Plan the cycle (who, where, what and how)
Decide what data to gather

Carry out the plan
Document any problems encountered and observations
Gather data

Fully analyze data
Compare data to predictions
Examine learning

What changes need to be made to the next cycle?
If no changes, roll out the improvement

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Plan, Do, Study, Act

Explore and Design an activity (or activities) designed to support inclusive and responsive school culture (PLAN)
Implement the activity and flex your culturally responsive muscles (DO)
Take notes on the implementation and reflect personally or get some feedback from your colleagues. Not a bad idea to revisit the 4 Elements Questions. (STUDY)
Set some next steps for classroom culture based on what you learned. (ACT)

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Plan, Do, Study, Act

Make a copy of the Plan, Do, Study, Act spreadsheet.
Adjust the share settings so, “Anyone with a link can view”.
Link your PDSA here.
Start planning!

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Example PDSA Process

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DURING Workshop: First Step

Your lesson plan is an experiment in improving your classroom or school. As with any experiment, there are questions that the experimenter (the teacher) has.

My choice of Card: Empathy Mapping

For using the empathy map, my questions were:

Do teachers know about the lives of their students?
Will using an empathy map reveal new information for teachers?
Will some teachers be bored because it yields little new information?
Even if the information is new, will it be actionable?

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DURING Workshop: Second Step

Take the questions, and place them into the BLUE part of the worksheet.

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DURING Workshop: Step 3

Make Predictions about the answers to your questions. Write them in the column next to your questions

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DURING Workshop: Step 4

Write out your plan for how you will use the card you have chosen

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AFTER Workshop Steps

Step 6 - Write out how the lesson went maroonish Section 2

Step 7 - Answer your predictions in green Section 3

Step 8 - Make an adjustment to the plan in orange Section 4